Where to find good medical care is really important. If you have a good GP and a good hospital, it can make all the difference between you are well or not. But what’s also important is to know your own science, and there are still a few dinosaur doctors out there, who just throw pills at people, when sometimes it’s not always the answer.
Whether you are at a new GP or existing one, begin by having a medication review. Some people remain on the same medicines for years, when often there are better gentler medicines on the market. Take a list of everything you take, and ask your doctor why you are taking it, is it the correct dose, does it have interactions with anything else, and are you expected to stay on it for life. Then recycle any unwanted medicines at the pharmacist (unwanted and unused pharmacies cost the NHS millions each year).
- How to Get the Right Diagnosis is a book by a man who struggled for 5 years with a medical condition, before getting a proper diagnosis. Using his background of analytics, he’ll show you how to better describe your condition and get specific answers to questions. Learn through the trials and triumphs of others, and use their stories as examples, to get the good medical care you need and serve. Learn how to describe your pain and ask questions to help yourself. Includes tips for an effective partnership with your doctor.
- NHS website has a list of all NHS lists all symptoms and treatments, often with lifestyle advice that you could try before going down the medicine route. Their site is more reliable than searching online for gimmicky info. It also good info on complementary medicine.
- Medicine Waste UK is a campaign to ask people to only order medicine they need, and to encourage everyone to visit their GP for a medication review, to see if some medicines can be stopped or adapted. Recycle unused medicines at your local pharmacy.
- How to Age Wisely (and well) is a really good book about living longer, but living well. There’s no point living to 90 if you have every disease going and sitting all day in a chair in a care home. We are all living longer, but with an ageing population, how do we age wisely? Meet Dr Norman Lazarus. He’s 84 years old, and an expert on human physiology. He’s also living proof that your later years can be lived well. He is very active, takes no medication, walks and cycles everywhere, and has just written this book, to help other oldies like him.